Google Android smartphones outsell Apple iPhones in Australia

Smartphones using Google Android have outsold Apple's touchscreen behemoth this year in the Australian mobile market, according to a report.

Google claimed 44 per cent of the market to Apple's 43 per cent, the new Telsyte Digital Consumer Study said.

Telsyte research director Foad Fadaghi said that Google's narrow win follows years of fierce competition and represents a breakthrough victory in a market of over 10 million smartphones.

According to the Herald sun, Fadaghi said Google phones had taken the lead for several reasons, including Apple's delayed iPhone 5 release, improved Google software and apps, and a wide range of prices for Android phones, making them attractive to newcomers.

"There definitely has been some switching (from iPhones to Android phones). But the primary growth for Google has been in new smartphone users coming on board and being driven towards Android phones at a lower price," the report quoted Fadaghi, as saying.

According to the report, the narrow loss is another blow for the Apple iPhone that recently lost the title of world's best-selling smartphone to Samsung and its Galaxy S III handset. (ANI)